The Prestige (film)
| The Prestige | |
|---|---|
 US Promotional poster for The Prestige. | |
| Directed by | Christopher Nolan |
| Written by | Novel: Christopher Priest Screenplay: Jonathan Nolan Christopher Nolan |
| Starring | Hugh Jackman Christian Bale Michael Caine Scarlett Johansson David Bowie |
| Cinematography | Wally Pfister |
| Edited by | Lee Smith |
| Music by | David Julyan |
| Distributed by | - USA - Touchstone Pictures - non-USA - Warner Bros. |
Release dates | October 20, 2006 (USA) |
Running time | 130 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $40 million |
The Prestige is a 2006 film adapted from Christopher Priest's award winning 1995 novel of the same name. The film reunites director Christopher Nolan with Christian Bale and Michael Caine, both of whom worked with Nolan in Batman Begins. The Prestige also stars Hugh Jackman, David Bowie, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo and Andy Serkis.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Hugh Jackman | Robert Angier |
| Christian Bale | Alfred Borden |
| Michael Caine | Harry Cutter |
| Scarlett Johansson | Olivia Wenscombe |
| David Bowie | Nikola Tesla |
| Piper Perabo | Julia McCullough |
| Rebecca Hall | Sarah Borden |
| Andy Serkis | Mr. Alley |
Plot
According to stage magic engineer Harry Cutter, (Michael Caine), great magic tricks are composed of three acts: The Pledge, where the magician shows the audience something that appears ordinary, but is probably not; The Turn, where the magician makes the ordinary act extraordinary; and The Prestige, where there are "twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you've never seen before."
The Pledge
Magician Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) is on trial in turn-of-the-century Victorian era London for the murder of his rival, American magician Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman). During a stage performance, Angier drowned, having fallen through a trapdoor into a locked water tank, the trick seemingly gone wrong. As the only witness to Angier's death, Borden is convicted on circumstantial evidence. While in prison awaiting execution, Borden receives Angier's personal diary and begins to read it.
Flashback to 1897. Under Cutter's mentorship, Borden and Angier work as ringers for Milton the Magician, with Angier's wife Julia (Piper Perabo) as the magician's assistant. Julia's performance involves a dangerous predicament escape from a Chinese water torture cell. Julia must hold her breath, unbind her wrists, reach a trap hole, and release a trick lock. The safety of the stunt depends on the type of knot used, and Borden suggests using a different knot, with Julia in agreement, but the others deem it too risky. Something goes wrong during a performance, and Julia drowns. The magic act is cancelled. At the funeral, Angier asks Borden which knot he used, but Borden can't remember, enraging Angier. The two neophytes split up to pursue their careers as magicians.
Borden chooses the stage name, "The Professor", highlighting his inventive talent. He hires a new aide to help him, a shady character of few words named Fallon. During a parlor magic job, Borden meets his wife Sarah (Rebecca Hall) and together they produce a daughter, Jess (Samantha Mahurin). Sarah feels something is different about Borden; she claims to be able to tell when Borden loves her and when he does not.
A performance of the Chinese linking rings does not go well for Borden, as a drunken audience heckles him, having seen the trick one too many times. Borden decides to close the act with the bullet catch; a volunteer is chosen to fire the gun, but it's Angier in disguise. Upset about the loss of his wife, Angier places a real bullet into the pistol and again demands to know which knot Borden used on Julia's wrists. As Angier aims to shoot Borden, Fallon steps out of the shadows and pushes Angier's arm; the bullet strikes Borden's hand, severing his ring and pinky fingers. At home, Sarah tends to Borden's wound, but later is surprised to find that it hasn't healed.
Meanwhile, Cutter approaches Angier with a proposal for a new act; Angier chooses to use "The Great Danton" as his stage name (a name chosen by his late wife), reflecting his flair for showmanship. He employs a beautiful assistant named Olivia (Scarlett Johansson) to help distract the audience. Cutter helps Angier introduce a twist to a vanishing bird cage act, making use of a new mechanical apparatus to improve the illusion. Borden, in disguise, volunteers for the act and trips the trick cage before the Turn, killing the dove, injuring a volunteer, and tarnishing Angier's reputation.
The Turn
Both magicians continue to make modest performances until Borden begins astonishing crowds with "The Transported Man", a teleportation illusion: Borden bounces a ball across the stage, then disappears into a box and instantly reappears within another box across the stage, steps out, and catches the bouncing ball.
Angier and Olivia are amazed at the new illusion, but scoff at Borden's lack of showmanship. Cutter himself has no explanation for it except that Borden must be using a double. Angier and Olivia remain unconvinced; the man who walks out of the second box looks and talks just like Borden: he's even missing the same fingers. Obsessed with besting Borden, Angier steals his trick, giving it the name, "The New Transported Man." In this version, Angier tosses his hat across the stage (instead of bouncing a ball), disappears behind a door and seemingly reappears across the stage to catch the hat. With this trick however, Angier disappears under a trapdoor beneath the stage as a double makes his entrance through a trapdoor on the other side of the stage: the double enjoys the applause while Angier is forced to listen from backstage.
Obsessed with figuring out Borden's version of the teleportation illusion, and unhappy with his double receiving the audience's applause, Angier sends Olivia to steal Borden's secrets. However, Olivia falls in love with Borden and double-crosses Angier. The relationship takes its toll on Borden's wife Sarah, driving her to drink.
Borden eventually thwarts Angier's stolen trick (by binding up his double and breaking Angier's leg) and advertises his own show during Angier's performance. Furious that Borden had ruined their show, Angier and Cutter lure and then capture the mysterious Fallon, burying him in a coffin. Angier ransoms Fallon off for the key to Borden's illusion. Borden supplies Angier with one word, "TESLA," suggesting that that is not merely the key to the cipher of Borden's notebook (which Olivia had brought to Angier) but also the key to the trick.
Angier travels to Colorado Springs to meet Nikola Tesla (David Bowie) and learn the secret of Borden's illusion. Tesla constructs a machine for Angier, which resembles a Magnifying Transmitter. After the machine sparks and thunders, lacing the top hat with fingers of electricity, the test appears to fail. He then learns from Borden's notebook that the cipher, and the book itself, were knowingly given to him with Borden's words mocking Angier in the last pages. After feeling that he has spent an enormous amount of money for nothing in falling for Borden's trick, he returns to Tesla's lab and accuses him of being in league with his rival. But Tesla continues with the experiment despite the false accusations. After placing a cat in the machine and again watching the machine appear to fail, Angier storms outside only to find a duplicate of the cat playing with its original, as well as dozens of top hats, each identical to the hat used in the previous failed experiments. Tesla has really built the machine that Angier has asked for, although not with the results that he had expected.
Tesla studies the effects and talks to Angier about them. When Angier goes to visit Tesla again for the machine, he is stunned to see that the workshop is destroyed. Returning to the hotel believing that everything was lost, he is told that Tesla had left something for him the night before. Angier goes to the room where Tesla had left a large, wooden case for him with a letter attached to it. From the letter, Angier learns that Tesla apologizes for leaving so suddenly. Thomas Edison, with whom Tesla has his own intense rivalry with, had sent men to the town to investigate what he was working on. Tesla discovered this and felt that it was only a matter of time before they would move against him and had made arrangements to leave but not before he had completed the machine, leaving it for Angier per their agreement. Tesla's letter also leaves Angier with a final warning: Do not use the machine and destroy it instead.
The Prestige
Borden's relationship with Olivia leads to a blowup with an intoxicated Sarah. Fallon is seen in the hall comforting Jess, who overhears her parents fighting. Borden tells Sarah that he doesn’t love her, and shortly thereafter, she hangs herself.
Angier returns to London to produce a final set of one hundred performances with his new act, "The Real Transported Man". Cutter helps design the stage props but Angier insists he remain front stage for these shows: only blind stage hands help Angier backstage. The show opens to critical and commercial success, leaving Fallon and Borden confused. In the new act, Angier disappears under huge arcs of electricity, "teleporting" fifty yards from the stage to the balcony in only a second.
Borden suspects a trap door is used, but is baffled by Angier's balcony reappearance due to its distance from the stage. One night after a show, Fallon follows Angier and his blind stagehands, discovering that they transport a large, concealed water tank across town and discard it underground every night. Upon hearing this news, Borden decides to wash his hands of the matter and insists that Fallon simply leave Angier alone.
In disguise, Borden decides to watch the act one more time; sneaking backstage, he finds a water tank, and when the trap door opens, Borden watches Angier fall into the tank; strangely, the latch is secured by a padlock, preventing any escape. Borden tries to smash the water tank to save Angier's life, but he drowns. Borden is tried and convicted for Angier's murder, and sentenced to death by hanging.
In prison, Borden receives word that his daughter Jess will become a ward of the state unless he decides to give up the secret of the "transported man" to a certain Lord Caldlow. Borden is forced to oblige, but decides he will not reveal all until he can see Jess before his execution. Borden finally reaches the end of Angier's diary, where Angier writes that he hopes Borden enjoys his time in prison where he should be rotting for Angier's murder.
When Lord Caldlow comes to greet Borden in prison with Jess, Borden realizes that Caldlow is the living Angier in disguise (early in the film, Angier tells his wife that his family had him change his name before becoming a performer, implying that he is, in fact, a lord). Beaten, Borden relents and offers to reveal his secret, giving Angier the solution to the trick, but Angier tears it up without bothering to read it.
Cutter is given an invitation to see Lord Caldlow who reveals his true identity. Seeing Angier with Jess, Cutter's astonishment gives way to a grim realization of what Angier's obsession has accomplished. Cutter tells Angier that the child should be with her father. Angier ignores his advice. Borden is subsequently hanged.
Pleased that everything has gone according to plan, Angier decides to bury his secrets underground. Cutter follows Angier and confronts him. Angier tells Cutter that he never wanted him backstage for his final shows and now he knows the reason. Cutter takes his leave in disgust, passing and nodding to Fallon who enters the burned out façade. Angier is ambushed by a shot from the dark, as Borden steps out from the shadows and reveals that he and Fallon are one and the same: twins who have been living as a single individual. One twin was in love with Sarah, the other with Olivia. For the "Original Transported Man", Borden/Fallon disappered behind a door and the other twin reappeared at the other side of the stage. They were so committed to the lie that Fallon/Borden chiselled off his fingers to replicate the other brother. Angier painfully mutters that Cutter was right about the double all along, but that his own suspicions had kept him from believing the truth.
Angier, now dying from the fatal gunshot, reveals that for his "Real Transported Man" trick, each time Angier "disappeared", he fell through a trap door plunging into the water tank and proceeded to drown. The teleported and replicated Angier, a doppelgänger basking in the applause, lives on for the grand finale. The tank with the drowned corpse is taken out through the back of the theater by the blind stage hands, who load it onto a wagon for transport and store it underground. Angier further explains that he suffered to become great, a philosophy that Borden had stated from the beginning and had believed that Angier had never learned by stealing his secrets. Angier's flashback reveals that his first experiment with the machine resulted in his murder of the copy, the price that he was willing to continue to pay for his subsequent success. He then goes on to say that Borden did not understand the why of what they do, that the reason for doing the magic is to see the faces of surprise in the audience as they suspend their disbelief for just one moment in a world where everything can appear to be explained. After Borden leaves, a lamp is knocked over spreading burning oil across the raised floor, presumably burning what is left as the shot closes in on one of the tanks with another Angier duplicate floating inside. Angier dies from his wound and Borden reunites with his daughter. Template:Endspoiler
Production
Nolan got Priest's blessing with the adaptation. Filming started on January 9th, 2006, and finished on April 8, 2006. During filming, Nolan didn't build sets, but simply dressed locations and soundstages in Los Angeles (standing in for Victorian England) and Colorado.[1]
Originally set for an October 27, 2006 release, Touchstone opted to move the release date up a week to October 20, 2006. [2]
Adaptation
While the film is thematically faithful to Christopher Priest's novel, several plot and structural changes have been made in the transition.
- Nolan dispenses with the book's modern-day frame story. Instead, central plot is framed by Borden's wait for the gallows.
- The novel had a significant subplot involving spiritualism. Angier conducts rigged seances, and Borden acts as a debunker. This has been jettisoned in the film, requiring a new explanation for Julia's death.
- Borden and Angier are compatriots and co-workers in the film, albeit never friends. In the novel, they know each other largely by reputation, and only meet a few times.
Response
Critics
There has been both praise[3] and criticism[4] for the twists and turns in the storytelling. Drew McWeeny has given it a glowing review and said that it will certainly demand repeat viewing.[5] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone concurred. Richard Roeper and guest critic A.O. Scott have also given the film two thumbs up. Killer Movie Reviews acclaimed the tension as "gut-wrenching" and also acclaimed Nolan for "maintaining a perfect sense of wonder throughout". They gave the film 4/5, the only down note being an obvious solution.[6] Todd Gilchrist of IGN praised both Bale and Jackman's performances, whilst praising Nolan for making "this complex story as easily understandable and effective as he made the outwardly straightforward comic book adaptation (Batman Begins) dense and sophisticated... any truly great performance is almost as much showmanship as it is actual talent, and Nolan possesses both in spades."[7]
On the other hand, Dennis Harvey of Variety critisised the film as gimmicky, though he felt the cast did well in underwritten roles.[8]. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter felt that characters "are little more than sketches. Remove their obsessions, and the two magicians have little personality".[9] Nonetheless, the two reviewers praised David Bowie as Tesla, as well as the production values and cinematography. The AICN reviewer known as "Vincent Hanna" notes that "It is good and worth seeing... but somehow it feels like a mild dissapointment at the same time".[10] On a simpler note, Emanuel Levy has said: "Whether viewers perceive The Prestige as intricately complex or just unnecessarily complicated would depend to a large degree on their willingness to suspend disbelief for two hours." He gave the film a B grade.[11]
In terms of fans of the book, Howard Waldrop and Lawrence Person of Locus Online called it "a great film," with Person asserting it's actually better than the book. [12] However, while fellow Locus reviewer Gary Westfahl reviewed the film favorably, he said "the novel was subtle and complex, while the film is blunt and simplified." [13]
The film has a strong 74% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compiled from 107 reviews.
Box Office
The film opened strongly with an estimated $15 million for its first three days.[14]
Trivia
- The movie reunites four principals of Batman Begins: Christoper Nolan as director, Jonathan Nolan as writer and actors Caine and Bale.
- Tesla and Edison serve as foils for Borden and Angier, respectively. Tesla is a genius without sense of pragmatism, like Borden, but Edison is an expert in application and presentation, like Angier.
- The Prestige is one of three 2006 films to feature both the topic of magic and magicians as main characters. The other two are The Illusionist and Scoop, the second of which also stars Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson.
- In Latin America, the movie will be released under the name "The Big Trick".
- The song "Analyse," by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, plays over the closing credits.
See also
References
- ^ Carle, Chris (2006-09-20). "The Prestige Edit Bay Visit". IGN. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
- ^ "The Prestige Changes the Date". Canmag.com. 2006-07-23. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
- ^ Smith, Je (2006-09-27). "Are You Watching Closely?". Pop Syndicate. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ^ Perez, Jon (2006-10-04). "Early Look: The Presige". LatinoReview.com. Retrieved 2006-10-09.
- ^ McWeeny, Drew (2006-10-13). "Moriarty conjures up AICN's first review of The Prestige!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
- ^ "The Prestige". Killer Movie Reviews. 2006-10-15. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
- ^ Gilchrist, Todd (2006-10-15). "Elevating movie magic to new artistic heights". IGN. Retrieved 2006-10-20.
- ^ Harvey, Dennis (2006-10-13). "The Prestige". Variety. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
- ^ Honeycutt, Kirk. "The Prestige". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
- ^ "The Prestige baffles Vincent Hanna, but is that a good thing?". Ain't It Cool News. 2006-. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Levy, Emanuel (2006-10-15). "The Prestige". Emanuel Levy.com. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
- ^ Waldrop, Howard, and Lawrence Person. "Movie Review of The Prestige". Locus Online. Retrieved 2006-10-24.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Westfahl, Gary. "Seeing Double: A Review of The Prestige". Locus Online. Retrieved 2006-10-24.
- ^ "The Prestige tricks the US box office". Empire. 2006-10-23. Retrieved 2006-10-23.